Communication in an Emergency

In the event of an emergency on campus, the university relies on an array of communication tools to keep the campus community informed and relay safety instructions. University Police and the Division of Strategic Communications are the only campus offices authorized to disseminate official information about campus emergencies to the campus community. The modes of communication include the following and vary with the nature and severity of the situation.

Campus siren: The sirens may emit a continuous three-minute sound warning. Please note that the sirens are tested at 11 a.m. each Friday.

Email and text emergency notifications: Ball State issues three types of notifications during emergencies depending on the urgency or severity of the situation: emergency warnings, public safety advisories, and BSUInform notices.

Ball State home page: In the event of an emergency, the home page would be one of the first places university officials would post official information for all audiences. Should www.bsu.edu become unavailable during an emergency on campus, the university may post information on the site http://ballstate.info.

Ball State Emergency Management Twitter Account (@ballstate_alert): In the event of an
emergency, the university will post information and continual updates on our
official emergency management Twitter account @ballstate_alert.

At this time, this Twitter account is our primary method for offering emergency updates to anyone outside of the university (i.e., parents, media). If you would like to receive the tweets being shared during an emergency:

Emergency call boxes: Emergency call boxes are in classrooms and other places around campus where it is inappropriate to place a regular telephone. The call boxes work like a telephone and dial the University Police Department once the button is pressed.

Also, call boxes will receive alerts and say them aloud during emergencies. This happens almost instantaneously across all call boxes on campus.